Today while using Illustrator CS6 I encountered an issue where I had multiple groups, each containing a set of text and non-text artwork, and when I tried to copy the Appearance from one group to another using the Eyedropper Tool I found that it seems not to be possible.

The fill and stroke colors get sampled, but not the Appearance. It works for non-grouped objects, but not grouped ones. The result is the same in CC 2017.

What workarounds, if any, exist for dealing with this?

Here is a screen shot showing the Appearance of such a group. There is a fill that is offset (note the "fx") to look somewhat like a drop shadow.

My Eyedropper Tool settings are set to use all properties:

More strange findings

With a single (non-grouped) object selected, I tried sampling some grouped items that had their Appearances added before being grouped, and this time the Appearance was copied without the fill, (still despite having all Eyedropper options enabled, as shown in the above screen shot).

Depending on the combinations of grouped and non-grouped objects, and whether the Appearances were added before or after grouping, different results occur. But never do all three (stroke, fill, and secondary fill) get transferred. There is always something missing.

Thanks so much! This works perfectly. (Sorry it took me over a week to try this out for myself and accept your answer.) Also, I noticed that if trying to drag from the Graphic Styles panel onto the group the style gets applied to an object within the group instead of the whole group - but if you click to select the group and then click on the style in the Graphic Styles panel it gets applied to the whole group. I hope you don't mind if I edit your answer to include this detail to help other readers.
– MentalistNov 6 '17 at 0:47

Thanks, but I don't think my eyedropper settings are the problem, because I have all options enabled. I just updated my post with a screen shot to clarify. They look just like yours, except for the language. ;-)
– MentalistSep 26 '17 at 12:28